Project Description

Nearly one-third of Australia’s landmass was drowned after the last ice age and generations of people were displaced by sea-level change. This project will impact heritage and environmental management and underpin a future for growth in the marine heritage sector with benefits to Indigenous, business and research communities.

This pioneering, multi-disciplinary study of submerged landscape archaeology in Australia is designed to investigate the records of the now-submerged Pilbara coast (spanning 50,000 to 7000 years ago). Information from drowned contexts will help address critical debates in Australian prehistory relating to past sea-level rise, population resilience, mobility, and diet. The project integrates cultural and environmental studies and contributes a unique southern hemisphere insight into world prehistory through material analysis and an adaptation of method from the world’s only confirmed submarine middens. A suite of cutting edge marine and aerial survey techniques will be developed to investigate physical and cultural submerged landscapes.

We acknowledge Australian Aboriginal People and Torres Strait Islander People as the first inhabitants of
the nation, and acknowledge Traditional Owners of the lands where our staff and students live, learn
and work.